“Pass through, pass through”

“Where does this narrow path lead?”

“It is the path to Tenjin Shrine”

“Please let us pass through”

“People with no business are usually not allowed through”

“This child is now seven years old”

“We’ve come to make our offering”

“Going is safe, but not returning”

“If you are prepared, go through, go through…”

I was chasing someone in the darkness.

Although I could barely see beyond the faint outline of his figure, I knew that he was important.

Wait.

The thought passed through my mind, yet I was unable to express it in words.

A silent emptiness, where I could not speak nor foresee the path ahead.

Yet, I continued running.

Wait.

I ran as fast as I could.

The distance between us remained the same.

Panic.

Desperation.

And…a burst of hope with a tinge of sadness.

I reached forward with all my might.

Wait, don’t-

“Young man, wake up…don’t die on me!”

…

Who…?

“Hey, can you hear me? Hello?”

My eyes opened slightly.

The blurry face of the speaker came into my line of vision.

…

“Hey, you- Ah, thank God. You have finally come to. I was really worried for a moment there, I thought…”

My eyes focused.

The speaker, a middle-aged man with brown hair and brown eyes, gazed down at me with a worried expression.

I raised my hand to my temple, trying to steady myself against the wave of nausea that suddenly crashed into me.

Where…was I?

…

Ah, that’s right.

I was in the Colosseum.

“…anyway, I’m glad that you are fine now. How are you feeling-”

As he was speaking, I tried to sit up.

“Woah woah, calm down there. You shouldn’t try to get up so fast…take your time to recover a bit first.”

He caught me as I swerved to side.

“Thanks.” I said, as I raised one hand to the throbbing spot on my head.

My hand came off with smudges of a dark red liquid.

Blood.

“That…when I heard the explosion, I came as fast as I could. I found you lying on the ground, unconscious. It seems like you have been knocked into the chalk board…”

…

I glanced at my surroundings.

Bits of debris lay scattered around the classroom, the wall separating the room from the next completely decimated.

Yet, the windows and the rooms across the hall seemed unharmed.

…

A very precise attack.

“…oh right, I haven’t introduced myself. My name is Tanaka Michiro. What is your name?”

I fixed my gaze on his smiling face.

…

I smiled back.

“Kurose Mikage.”

He nodded, before holding one hand out to me.

“I would love to explain the situation to you, but for now, we must get going…before they get here.”

They…?

I narrowed my eyes slightly.

“I’ll tell you more as we walk. Can you stand?”

I nodded.

He grabbed on to my hand, and hoisted me up.

“Then, let’s hurry.”

He turned his back to me, heading toward the room’s exit.

…

‘They’ …huh.

I waited for a fraction of a second more before following.

————————

A hushed silence greeted the department, as the officers stared at the message displayed on the screen in front of them.

Sai narrowed his eyes slightly, before turning away from the crowd, making his way toward the exit.

“Signaling the Chief out, huh…”

“Hey, don’t you think that message is a little…you know…too familiar-sounding? It can’t be that the perpetrator and the Chief has some sort of a connection, right…”

“Haha, impossible. You’re overthinking it…there’s no way…”

The members of the investigation force whispered amongst themselves, sneaking glances at Sai as he headed toward the door, out of the department.

“Wait, Chief Kurose…where are you going?” Kyoushiro called out, forcing his way out of the crowd after him.

“Shibuya Time Square.” Sai replied simply, without looking back.

Kyoushiro raced after him, watching as he walked toward the elevators.

“Wait…just wait for a second…Sai!!!”

Sai stopped walking, pausing with one finger on the elevator button.

Kyoushiro walked toward him, stopping a short distance away.

“…You know…how do I say this…that message earlier. I know it makes me look really bad but, it wasn’t me who wrote it…”

He looked nervously at Sai, whose expression did not change at all.

“Is that all you wanted to say?” Sai asked, turning his calm blue gaze toward him.

“I mean, I know that is evidence against me, since I said the same thing moments before it was announced…but please believe me, I-”

Sai held his gaze for a fraction of a second more, before sighing.

“You are really a baka, aren’t you.”

“Yes, I’m a baka…wait, huh…?”

The elevator opened, and Sai stepped in.

Kyoushiro followed, keeping his eyes on his superior as the latter pressed the button for the ground floor.

“Eh…what exactly do you mean…” he continued.

“How many people pass by that fountain in the Shibuya Time Square on a regular day?” Sai asked, keeping his eyes on the floor indicator lights ahead.

“Well, it is one of the busiest areas in Shibuya…I say lots of people, it always seems crowded no matter what time of the day it is.” Kyoushiro replied, after a moment of consideration.

Sai nodded.

“How long do you think it’ll take for someone to notice a person dangling from the fountain?”

“…Almost immediately…I mean, that is a pretty uncommon sight after all.”

“Right. And how close do you think the nearest news station is?”

“…eh…Considering that the Square is a commercial center around here, probably a few blocks away?”

“Correct. The closest one, Akatsuki Productions, is just around the corner. Maximum of ten minutes on foot with the morning traffic in consideration. And, not so coincidentally, Akatsuki Productions happens to own Channel 22, the one which was on air a few minutes ago.”

Kyoushiro thought about what he said for a bit, before turning to Sai once again with a confused look.

“And what’s all this supposed to say about me?”

The door opened, and Sai stepped out.

“Why don’t you think about it? A person notices the man hanging from the fountain at most, a few second after the latter is left there. Then, a period of panic, while the crowd gathers around the discovery. Let’s give that a five minute delay. Akatsuki Production is notified of the commotion shortly after; we will give the timeline a ten minute duration starting from when the man was found to when the station first sends out its camera crew. We will give the station another ten minutes to arrive, and another five to set up. That puts us at 25 minutes from the start of the event to its broadcast.”

“…Meaning…?”

“Meaning that the culprit was at the scene, 25 minutes ago.”

“…???”

“And where exactly where you, 25 minutes ago?”

“I was…in the office with you…ah!”

Realization suddenly dawned on Kyoushiro, who stopped walking and gave a tiny shout of surprise.

“But…the message…”

Sai got into his car, starting up the engines.

Kyoushiro got in after him, still deep in thought.

“It doesn’t take a genius to find out who is in charge of the operations. We already held a press conference about it a month ago. All it did was confirm my hypothesis from earlier, and also that this ‘Kuro’ is one for mind games.”

Sai pulled out of the parking lot, entering the traffic nearby.

“But…what if this was set up way before? I may not have an alibi then…”

“Kyoushiro, I didn’t know that you were a magician.”

Kyoushiro looked at him, once again confused.

“The timeline applies to the culprit too. If you could appear, tie someone to the fountain in the middle of the busiest intersection in Shibuya, and disappear this fast, then maybe you should consider becoming a magician instead. You would be quite famous, you know.”

“What about last night? When less people are around?”

“And someone finally noticed him, after one day of hanging from the fountain? You were with me since yesterday morning. Stop trying to talk yourself into a crime, Kyoushiro.”

“Then he committed suicide-”

The traffic lights turned red. The car stopped.

“Now, hold it there. Not only have you elevated yourself to the status of a grand magician, now the victim too? When did they ever say he is dead anyway?”

“…”

Kyoushiro stayed silent for a while, before he realized something.

“Wait, you said something about ‘Kuro.’ Aren’t you jumping to conclusions just a bit?”

At that, Sai smiled.

“We shall see in a bit.”

——————————

“M-i-k-a-g-e-Chan~” a voice called out behind me.

Before I could turn around, a pair of arms wrapped around me, making me lean toward my desk from the weight.

“Good morning, Tomo-kun.” I said, tilting my head back, giving him a light smile.

“‘Morning! You didn’t reply to my text message last night, I was lonely, you know.”

He sighed dramatically.

Then, he was lifted off my back by someone.

“You don’t have to stick so close to him every morning, Tomoharu. You are making Mikage look bad. See, all the girls are whispering about you two.”

He gestured toward the crowd of girls nearby, who promptly looked away, giggling amongst themselves.

“Ehh…Why? We are best friends though, right, Mikage?”

I nodded.

Tomo’s face brightened, as he reached for me once more.

“Stop that, you Mikage-crazed baka. And you, Mikage, you should stop spoiling him, it’s only going to worsen his idiocy.”

I gazed at him for a moment, before smiling.

“Good morning, Yuu-kun.”

A crack appeared in his glasses.

“Don’t ‘good morning’ me, Mikage! You two-”

“Settle down, class. I have an announcement to make.”

He stopped talking as the teacher stepped in.

Returning to his desk with a sigh, he glared at Tomo, who beamed at him as if nothing had happened.

“Class, it may be sudden since we are approaching the end of the year but, we have a transfer student from Yokohama that will be joining us starting today.”

Transfer student, huh.

I looked outside of the window, uninterested.

“Come on in and introduce yourself.”

The transfer student stepped in.

The class was silent for a moment, before excited whispers began to fly across the room.

“Due to my father’s job transfer, my family moved here last week. My name is Akimori Yuri, nice to meet you all.”

…

My eyes widened.

I turned my eyes to the front of the room, toward the figure of Akimori Yuri standing near the chalkboard.

“Oi oi, isn’t the transfer student an absolute beauty? I mean really really good looking?”

“Damn, I wasn’t even looking at her face. Look at that curvy body…hers is huge.”

“Oppai-power!”

“All hail the oppai!”

“I’m more of a face type of guy-”

“Shut up, bakayaro. It’s always about the oppai.”

My male classmates whispered amongst each other, sneaking glances at Yuri.

On the other hand, all the female classmates looked ready to burst, from a mixture of anger and envy.

I looked away, turning my gaze down to the notebook on my desk, lowering my head slightly to maintain a minimal presence.

“Well, please take care of her, Class. Akimori-san, there is an empty desk beside Kurose-san over by the windows. That will be your new seat for now.”

Yuri nodded.

…

I kept my head lowered, focusing on the blank page in front of me, as if I was deep in thought.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Her footsteps neared.

Then, it stopped. Right beside my desk.

Slowly, I lifted my head, meeting her honey-like gaze reluctantly.

“…”

We gazed at each other for a moment more, before I smiled.

“My name is Kurose Mikage. Nice to meet you, Akimori-san.”

...

Silence.

Yet, her gaze did not waver.

Then, she opened her mouth to speak.

“Nice to meet you too, Kurose-kun.”

Floor 7- End.

----------------------

A quick message from Hikaru:

Long time no see everyone! Exams are finally over (yatta!), and so I will have more time to write my fictions until classes resume in a few weeks. With that said though, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I do think it is lacking in action (once again), but soon, the main game shall begin!

PS: I know I promised that there will be more Mikage this time, yet it seems like Sai stole the spotlight again? Even though he isn't the main character-

Sai: It's not good to be biased, Hikaru.

Mikage: ...

Anyway...

PS 2: I know I also promised that I will introduce a new character in this chapter...but of course, that didn't happen either.

???: Nothing ever gets done with you, Hikaru.

Ame: You just wanted to comment on the oppai, didn't you. Haha.

-Hikaru